Bharat Summit: Fake information is now a global headache, say legislators

Hyderabad: One of the major concerns amongst all nations across the world is the rapid spread of misinformation via the internet or social media. Be it Whatsapp forwards or anything else, the issue has now become a menace, which all the panelists, including legislators and ex-legislators from different countries, agreed that needed to be dealt with in different ways including providing multi-dimentional education to citizens.

Thanisara GG Ruangdej, CEO & co-founder, Punch Up, who works on participation through technology and open data in Thailand, said that we live in an “era of information overload. Addressing delegates during a panel discussion titled ‘Facts vs fiction: Countering disinformation’ held at the Bharat Summit organised by the Congress, she added that the world is also witnessing an era of “attention economy”.

The discussion at the Bharat Summit essentially pertained to curb the spread of disinformation from the stem, be it false forwards or wrong information available on the internet. Miapetra Kumpula Natri, former member of the European Parliament, who was also a speaker, said that Europe has done a lot to curb the spread of false information.

“We educate active citizens because that is basic for democracy. We call it multi literacy, as you need to be to make active decisions, where you can get trusted information from. Finnish education system has had this policy for years. So you are not banning use of mobile phones from pre-education but you take age appropriate measures, like limiting use of mobiles,” said Natri, who is from Finland.

Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijay Singh, who was moderating the event, said that the global economy is being controlled by tech companies and rights of labour are being encroached upon.

While one would have thought that the ‘Whatsapp University’ menace majorly troubles India in terms of spreading misinformation, Matthew Faulding from the left-wing think tank Progress in the United Kingdom (UK), state that lies travel much faster these days. “The first Labour govt was taken down by disinformation. In the digital world it is much faster. An additonal challenge we have is that this spreads by WhatsApp, so it is hard to find out the information,” he added. 

Ramkarpal Singh, a member of Parliament from Malaysia, said that even politicians take advantage of the media and its facilities (to spread misinformation).

The panel discussion is part of the two-day Bharat Summit being hosted by the Congress to bring together progressive-left parties and organisations and discuss global issues.